TRANMERE have an unenviable record in penalty shootouts over the past two decades.

The shootout they won in a Johnstone's Paint Trophy tie against Stockport this season was their first success in 18 years. There were several heartbreaking failures during that period.

However, new scientific research suggests the lottery of a penalty shootout does not begin with the first kick, but rather the toss of a coin to decide which team takes the first shot.

Penalty shoot-outs give an unfair psychological advantage to the team that shoots first, according to a study by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) published this week.

Professor Ignacio Palacios-Huerta, from LSE’s department of management, and his co-author Jose Apesteguia, associate professor at Pompeu Fabra University, studied 2,820 penalty kicks from penalty shoot-outs from the major national and international competitions between 1970 – 2008. They found that the team that takes the first kick wins 60 per cent of the time and the team that takes the second 40 per cent of the time.

Professor Palacios-Huerta said: "Most TV channels cut to the commercial break when the coin is being tossed to decide which team takes the first penalty – but our findings show that this could be the deciding moment in a drawn match.

"The coin gives a 20 per cent advantage to the team that shoots first. The psychological pressure of “lagging behind” clearly affects the performance of the team that kicks second."